The present invention relates to window coverings and more particularly to window coverings for covering windows in doors, although the window coverings can certainly be applied to windows in walls, as well as in doors. In French doors, windows occupy a large portion of the area of the door, which provides a very pleasing architectural and visual statement for homes or buildings. The open windows allow outdoor light to come in and brighten a room, as well as providing occupants of a room a way to see outdoors to enjoy nature or other outdoor views. As a result, French doors and other doors with windows (hereinafter collectively referred to as xe2x80x9cFrench doorsxe2x80x9d) have become quite popular.
Conventional French doors are formed with a door frame made traditionally of wood, or other materials such as vinyl or metal. Within the area of the door, openings are formed in which window panes are arranged, separated and supported by divider elements called mullions. In traditional French doors, the mullions have a thickness substantially equal to the overall thickness of the door but rise substantially out of the plane of the glass of the windows. Some French door designs have mullions and surrounding glazing elements of the panes which rise even further above the plane of the main door frame.
Another attempt to provide coverings for doors with windows in them is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,301 to Smith. In the Smith patent, doors having windows without mullions are provided with a privacy screen. However, the screens are sized to be about the area of the glass, so that they fit against the glass and are therefore recessed from the main plane of the door. This is only possible because Smith addresses a door that has no mullions. Screens like Smith""s are not workable with a French door in which the mullions stand in the way and prevent the screens from being recessed directly onto the glass.
At nighttime, it is desired to provide privacy and, sometimes in the daytime it is desired to have privacy, or to reduce the ingress of ambient light. The Smith screens are acceptable for such purposes for the doors addressed in the Smith patent. However, they are not workable alternatives for French doors having mullions.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a screen for a French door to enable it to be covered when privacy or light blockage is desired, and to be removed when not desired.
The present invention fulfills this need in the art by providing a barrier for covering a window in a French door in which the window has a first area and the French door has a second area, the second area being larger than the first area. A frame defines a rigid perimeter around a third area that is larger than the first area and smaller than the second area. First and second fabric covers are located on opposite sides of the frame, and a means for hanging the barrier on a French door is provided so that the window is covered by the barrier.
The first and second fabric covers may be stretched across the frame. One of the fabric covers preferably provides opacity to the barrier. The fabric cover that provides opacity preferably faces the door when the barrier is hung on the door. One of the fabric covers is, desirably, decorative. The fabric cover that is decorative typically faces away from the door when the barrier is hung on the door.
The means for hanging typically permits the barrier to be hung on or removed from the French door without tools or manipulation of parts. In one embodiment the means for hanging includes a projection from one side of the barrier that cooperates with a sawtooth-topped strap affixed to the French door. In another, the hanging means includes a receiver on the frame that cooperates with one or more hooks on the French door.
The frame may be a wooden frame and may have mitered corners. In another embodiment the frame is a rigid plastic. Other suitable materials may be substituted.
The first and second fabric covers may be joined together to make a sleeve, with the frame is inserted within the sleeve.
The invention may take the form of a plurality of barriers. In this embodiment one of the fabric covers of each barrier is decorative, and each decorative fabric cover is unique from the decorative fabric covers of the other barriers. The decorative covers of the plurality of barriers preferably cooperate to make a unitary decorative scene.
The invention also provides a method of decorating and providing privacy to a room with a French door that has a window in it. The method includes at selected times, hanging on the French door a rigidly-framed barrier that has an area larger than the window in the French door, so that a view through the window is blocked by the barrier and covered with a decorative image on the barrier. At other selected times, the barrier is removed from the French door to allow light to pass from outdoors into a building and to allow occupants of the building to see out of the window in the door.
Hanging preferably includes hanging on multiple French doors to make a composite decorative image. Hanging may also include hanging an opaque barrier to black out outside light from the building. Hanging preferably includes lowering an upper frame section of the barrier onto a support on the French door.
The method may also include storing a removed barrier away from the window in the French door.
Removing may include raising an upper frame section of the barrier off of a support on the French door.